The invention is directed to the field of games, and in particular to computer, internet or television based games, such as interactive or multi-player games.
Computer games and television games are common. Many people use devices, such as the Playstation, from Sony, or competing products from Nintendo or Sega, to play an interactive game on a television or other video device. Similar games are also played on stand-alone personal computers, or via the internet. One objective of these games is to provide as real an experience as possible to the players. The embodiments of the present invention provide enhancements to the game playing experience by employing wireless piconet technology, such as according to the Bluetooth standard.
The gaming experience is enhanced, according to one embodiment according to the invention, by employing a game saver drive that is linked with the other devices involved in the game playing experience via a wireless piconet, and that intelligently saves game status information. This information can be used to resume an in-process game at a future time, or to provide for recovery in the case of inadvertent game interruption, such as system failure or crashing.
The gaming experience is enhanced, according to another embodiment according to the invention, by linking a surround lighting system integrated with surround sound and triggered by signals received over a wireless piconet.
Thus, a system according to one embodiment of the invention includes a game control unit, a video display device, a user input unit, and a game saver unit. The game saver unit is wirelessly linked to at least one of the game control unit, the video display device and the user input unit, and the game saver unit saves status information regarding an in-process game.
In an alternative embodiment, a system according to the invention includes a game control unit, a video display device, a user input unit, and a plurality of lighting units wirelessly linked to at least one of the game control unit, video display device and user input unit, and adapted to illuminate based on game activity. The game activity may include the occurrence of a particular event, such that the illumination of the lighting units affects a perceived realism of the event. This system may also include the game saver unit, such that the game saver unit is adapted to save a game status based on the particular event.
In another alternative embodiment according to the invention, a method of saving a status of an in-process video game includes the steps of determining that a difficult point in the game is imminent, and saving the game status based on the determination. The determination that the difficult point in the game is imminent may be based on previous plays of the game by a current user, or on general usage. According to this embodiment, the user may be permitted to return to the saved status, for example, after a particular event, such as a catastrophic event, occurs within the game.